1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a transaction management system for configuring an online shopping system and to a program used for a computer to function as a system for configuring the online shopping system.
The present disclosure relates to subject matter contained in Japanese Patent application No. 2000-157179 (filed on May 26, 2000), which is expressly incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.
2. Description of the Related Art
As broadly known, a variety of articles of trade have been sold through the Internet over the recent years. When purchasing an article, a specific process must be executed for paying a price of the article. Procedure of the process is different depending on an article supplier (dealer), however, the procedure can be roughly classified into a procedure requiring an input of a credit card number and a procedure requiring an input of unique pieces of information (such as a membership number, a password etc.) given to a user (member).
With an advancement of an SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) technology, though there decreases a possibility in which the credit card number inputted to a self-terminal leaks out (wiretapping) during a period till the credit card number arrives at a server of the article supplier, a problem arises, wherein the credit card number might be adversely used after arriving at the server. Therefore, on the occasion of purchasing the article dealt on the Internet, some users prefer not a payment by the credit card but a money transfer at a bank, a cash on delivery and so on, though the procedure becomes troublesome.
In the case of buying the article by inputting the membership number and the password, there does not arise the problem that the credit card number leaks out (this problem might, however, occur when obtaining the membership). The articles that can be purchased by inputting a couple of a certain membership number and a certain password are limited to those provided by the article supplier who gave this membership number. Therefore, in the case of obtaining various types of articles on the Internet, pieces of information on a multiplicity of members are obtained and must be managed so as not to be known by others. Further, in the case of purchasing the articles by use of those membership numbers, a problem is that a payment of each article must be done according to the membership number used.
Moreover, everybody can buy the articles on the Internet on a simple condition that he or she knows special pieces of information (the credit card number, the membership number etc.), so that there recently arises a problem that the infants get harmful articles on the Internet.
Under such circumstances, it is a primary object of the present invention to provide a transaction management system capable of configuring an online shopping system in which the user purchase the article without inputting the credit card number, and a necessity of managing new items of information for utilizing the system does not occur.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a transaction management system capable of configuring an online shopping system capable of restricting the articles that the users are allowed to purchase.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a program executed by a computer to function as a system corresponding to each transaction management system.